US/Canadian ranks

Ours are actually pretty confusing. Since I can't sleep and I want to brood on how much I hate the academy, here's how it goes:

1) Hired as assistant professor (full-time), usually in a position where research is more important than teaching
2) If you get tenure, seven years in or so, associate professor, where you can sit for life, barring criminal charges; many people stop doing research to speak of here and many stop thinking much about students
3) If you pass a second, harder review another seven or more years on, full professor
4) Kind of retired, half- or one-third-time: emeritus

Those are the minority of higher academic positions in the US, though. Most are some kind of part-time deal and the blanket term seems to be "instructor." "Instructor" can mean almost anything short-term, though usually it means people on one-term or one-year contracts for a given course, and who might get paid very little (as in, a couple-few thousand USD a year per course, with 5000 USD being a "decent" wage, and most universities hiring for a maximum of three simultaneous year-long courses, or just short of full-time). They also rarely get a health plan, which is the real sticking point for many people, of course, in the US. These positions are also called adjuncts (adjunct professors or instructors, either one) or sometimes sessionals.

"Lecturer" usually means some kind of limited position, mostly teaching with little to no assumption of research, and is renewed on an ongoing basis every three to five years or so; the general assumption is that the contract will be renewed, barring horribleness. This is usually a full-time position, except when "lecturer" actually means "adjunct," as it sometimes does.

And then there's "visiting assistant professors," who are full-time but non-renewable faculty, there for a year or two, and then out again: theoretically nice for the CV, but mostly cheaper for the university, which doesn't have to worry about long-term benefits.

So, basically, if anyone tells you that professors have it really cushy in the US, they're wrong. A limited subset of professors have it really cushy, but the rest are bouncing job to job and picking up part-time work just like everyone else.
(Tullia, Thu 25 Feb 2010, 10:02, 2 replies)

They still have it better than British academics.
My parents (who are both British, as am I) have been professors at universities in the US my whole life (they moved universities once in 27 years), and the pay, benefits and job security is a whole lot better than in the UK.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Thu 25 Feb 2010, 11:18, closed)

Disagree.
Once you are past probation as a lecturer in the UK you are as safe as a tenure prof in the US, and the pay is fine to very good, assuming (crucially) you are any good at your job. The pension is probably one of the best in the UK, and most Unis have a lot of benefits (cheap gyms, NHS dentists, etc etc)

The problem is that once past probation, many just ease off and don't put in the full effort. Also, you have to be prepared to accept that your job is to generate income for the university, through either research or teaching, and stop pretending the whole thing is really some noble higher purpose.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 25 Feb 2010, 11:59, closed)

The big difference in the US
is that a lecturer is a teaching position, primarily. Lecturer in the UK is equivalent of tenure professor in the US. The US doesn't really officially rank the seniority of their tenured staff as such, whereas here, you go lecturer/senior lecturer/reader/professor.

Although some Unis don't bother with reader.

Assistant professor in the US is the equivalent of PDRA or research fellow in the UK, it's usually a fixed-term appointment funded from a particular research grant or funding area.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 25 Feb 2010, 11:48, closed)